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Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Meat eating and animal killing in valmiki ramayan

Meat eating
and animal killing in Valmiki ramayan

By: Khurshid Imam

A. Introduction

Valmiki Ramayan happens to be the "Original
Ramayan" in Indian tradition. This is the book that introduced people
to the story of Shri Ram chandr ji. This great epic was written by Shri
Valmiki ji. Owing to the popularity of this book; several versions of Ramayana were
written afterwards. Several centuries later Ramcharitmanas written
by Tulsidas came into existence. Now days it is Ramcharitmanas that
is read widely. Valmiki Ramayan is not read as much, but thankfully it is
accessible and available to people.

To know about
some differences between Original Ramayana and the Ramayana that you know
- click here.

Our Hindu brethren
accuse muslims of meat eating and declare this act as inhumane and barbaric.
This issue of "meat eating" has even become a political tool for some
mischievous elements of society. However when we go through Sacred Books
of Sanatan dharma or Hinduism then we find several references
that not only permit or justify meat eating but also encourage in some case.
When killing of animal for sacrifice or eating is done by revered personality
or those who are worshipped then it poses a very big question mark over
the issue of meat eating. In this article we will look at very few such
references (7-8) wherein sacred personalities of Hinduism kill animal for
sacrifice and for eating purpose.

Kindly note: I am not
presenting research work on all references related to meat eating in Hindu
Scriptures but only showing very few references from one book only!!

Another important point
is that I would like to draw attention of dear readers of gross mistranslation
done by some publishers. It is not difficult to understand that there are
deliberate mistranslations done for some verses which speak about meat eating or
animal killing. Why this literal fraud? Of course; to conceal truth from the
common mass and let them not understand the reality of the issue.

For the ease of user we
are presenting at least 2-3 different translations for each shlok (Verse).

मैथिलीम् princess of Mithila, तांसीताम् that Sita, तथा in that way, गिरिनिम्नगाम् mountain-river, दर्शयित्वा having shown,मांसेन with meat,छन्दयन् gratifying, गिरिप्रस्थे on the
mountain-slope, निषसाद sat.

Having shown to Sita the mountain-river
Mandakini andgratifying
her with meat, Rama sat on the mountain slope. Righteous Rama
was seated in Sita's company and remarked saying "This meat is
sacred. This is savoury roasted in fire". (Valmiki Ramayan, Ayodha
Kand 96:1-2)

See the mistranslation done by Geeta press, Gorakhpur. Word
“meat” is mistranslated as fruit and plants parts!!Though Original Sanskrit
text is talking about meat that is meant for eating; meat that is roasted well
on fire but in hindi translation readers are told that fruits and plant parts
were meant for eating and cooked well on fire J

Being famished,Rama, Lakshmana hunted and killed a boar, a
Rishya animal (a white footed male antelope), a spotted deer and a great deer
with black stripes and quickly partaking the pure meatreached a tree by the evening to spend the
night. (Valmiki Ramayan, Ayodha Kand 52:102)

Yet again we can see entirely different translation. Text
says that Shri Ram chandr ji and Lakshman ji killed various animals and took
meat from it but translation says that they merely threw at animals and took
plant food for eating J Is not this
literal scam? People are being fooled.

सौमित्रे! O Lakshmana, ऐणेयंमांसम् flesh of black antelope, आहृत्य having
brought, वयम् we, शालाम् this leafy
hut, यक्ष्यामहे will worship,चिरजीविभि: those who intend to live for long time, वास्तुशमनम् pacification by house-hold deity, कर्तव्यम् should to be done.

O Lakshmana! Those who intend to live for long
should pacify the deity residing over here.Therefore, we shall bring the
flesh of black antelope and offer sacrifice at the leaf hut.
(Valmiki Ramayan, Ayodha Kand 56.22)

शुभेक्षण one who has auspicious looking eyes, लक्ष्मण Lakshmana, मृगम् the antelope, हत्वा having killed, क्षिप्रम् quickly, इह here, आनयbring, शास्त्रदृष्ट: as prescribed by the
scriptures, विधि: rites, कर्तव्यःहि will have to be carried out, धर्मम् the tradition, अनुस्मर recollect.

O Lakshmana!,Kill
an antelopeand bring it here
quickly. The rites as prescribed by the scriptures will have to be carried out.
You know and recollect that tradition also.

Once again this publication – Geeta press, Gorakhpur – has
made mockery of Sanskrit to hindi translation. Revered personality lakshaman
follows order of his elder brother Shri Ram chandr and got the meat drained off
blood; roasted it well and cooked it. But hindi translation is telling
different story about some plant / vegetable.

Same story of literal fraud is repeated here. Sanskrit text
is openly abused and wrong translation is being presented to the innocent mass.
People are made to believe that Non-veg food is against their culture while
sacred books talk about “god” eating animal meat after killing them.

Geeta press, Gorakhpur – again misleads the common mass.
The Sanskrit text is talking about Shri ram chandr ji bringing meat of animals
after killing deer, alligators, hogs/pigs for purpose of eating; but the hindi
translation speaks about “fruit” for eating J. Fooling the common mass!!!

F. Conclusion

1.Majority
of our Hindu brethren are made to believe that Non-veg food is against their
culture and tradition. They are told that Hinduism is against killing of
animals for food. However a careful study of their sacred scripture gives
entirely different picture.

2.Valmiki
Ramayan not only speaks about shri Ram chandr ji – who is worshipped by
millions of Indians as ideal person – eating meat but gives the picture that he
was very fond of it.

3.Shri
Ram chandr ji would kill animals, get meat to eat. He would order his brother
Shri lakshmana ji to do the same. They would offer animals for sacrifice also.

4.Unfortunately
some Ramayana publications grossly mistranslate such sholkas of Valmiki Ramayan
that speaks about meat eating and animal killing. They not only mislead common
mass but also disrespect scripture by not giving its due.

5.It’s
heartening to note that some translators DO have translated such sholkas
correctly and accepted meat eating and animal killing in Ramayana.

6.When
Ramayana speaks about permissibility of meat eating then one should not lead
common mass into believing wrong thing.

7.Intention
is not at all to hurt any of our brethren but to draw attention towards the
literary fraud done by some publications and wrong principles preached by some
people.

8.We
have not speculated, assumed or guessed but presented correct translation of
such references done by learned Hindu Scholars.

9.Also
its time for our Indian brethren to wake up and understand the tactics of some
elements of our society who use meat eating as a political tool to divide
people. Due to the sensitive nature of the topic some of our innocent’s
brethren get carried away in emotion and don’t look at facts. Let’s not be divided
and don’t let people polarize the society.

10.Let
us not allow anti-social elements to spread hatred, create division and
polarize hearts of fellow countrymen in the name of meat and animals.

Note: Lets look at another source which
proves our point. Please find below translation of above mentioned verses from Scholars
of Hindu scriptures available at other site: http://www.valmikiramayan.net

tathaa = thus; darshayitvaa =
having shown; girinimnagaam = the mountaneous river
Mandakini; taam siitaam = to that Seetha; maithiliim =
the daughter of the king of Mithila; niSasaada = sat; giriprashthe =
on the hill side; chhandayan = in order to gratify her
appetite; maamsena = with flesh.

Having shown Mandakini River in that manner to Seetha,
the daughter of Mithila, Rama set on the hill-side in order to gratify her
appetite with a piece of flesh.

Having hunted there four deer, namely Varaaha, Rishya,
Prisata; and Mahaaruru (the four principal species of deer) and taking quickly
the portions that were pure, being hungry as they were, Rama and Lakshmana
reached a tree to take rest in the evening.

"Be comfortable for a moment, here it is possible
for you to make a sojourn, and soon my husband will be coming on taking
plentiful forest produce, and on killing stags, mongooses, wild boars he
fetches meat, aplenty. [3-47-22b, 23]

Dear brother / sister: I have just quoted VALMIKI RAMAYAN - thats it. I have not inserted my own meaning or interpretation. Now its upto you to accept or reject valmiki ramayana. If you feel valmiki ji wrote wrong about Ram ji eating meat - then no issue.

Meaning; Leave the Fear 9 addressing the Gods and maharshis, Vishnu is telling). All of you will be safe. For the good of you all, I will take birth in the Human world, and after killing the Ravana, who is very cruel, and bad in charactyer, with all his Sons, grand sons, Ministers, freinds and cousins and in-laws in the battle,and rule the earth for Eleven thousand Years

While stabilizing the original text of Ramayana, historians surmised that portions of two Books [Kaandas], namely Book I, Bala Kaanda and Book VII, Uttara Ramayana (not listed above) are later additions - "The first and the last Books of the Ramayana are later additions. The bulk, consisting of Books II--VI, represents Rama as an ideal hero. In Books I and VII, however Rama is made an avatara or incarnation of Vishnu, and the epic poem is transformed into a Vaishnava text. The reference to the Greeks, Parthians, and Sakas show that these Books cannot be earlier than the second century B.C......"[ The cultural Heritage of India, Vol. IV, The Religions, The Ramakrishna Mission, Institute of Culture ].reference-http://www.valmikiramayan.net/

Vegetable or Non vegetable - eating is personal preferences, NO religion neither profess it nor ban it. ENon-Veg was prohibited in Hindu religion only in the medieval ages -could be a socio political reason- Which, we think it is our religion or culture bans it. But Mr.Khurshid - can you write wit the same mindset the marriage to a 7 or 9 years old? So instead or trying to find out and or show mistakes of other persons/religion- it is better to find the UN-narrated or biased opinions in one's own religion. Hindus are a friendly nature d people.

khurshid sahab, how you can full your stomch by killing any animal, god gifted us many vegetables to take as food, than why we kill animals just for food. if you like flesh so mush, why you eat your own flesh.

Dear, are plants non living? Are pests killed by farmers non living as well? Slaughter of plant, slaughter of animal, both are killing. We humans are heterotrophs i.e., we cannot synthesise our own food from sunlight like autotrophic plants. Hence, our survival depends upon killing. Your death, my life; this is the Mantra of mortal existence.Rama ate meat because Vegetarianism was never a part of mainstream Vedic religion; it is a Jain influence. But we Bengali people remained unaffected and continue to consume fish and meat in accordance to Varnashrama Dharma. If you have some issues with meat, tell me; I will introduce you to Shaktism, where Devi Puja is not complete without animal sacrifice.

According to both Ramayana and Ramcharitmanas gods and rishis killed animals for their skins either for seating or for dress. If these annimals can be killed for hides what is wrong in killing them for food?

Khurshid Imam has clearly mentioned the references from your religious scriptures. please try to read and understand your own scriptures first. all indian should learn Sanskrit. that is the only way to clarify the misconceptions.

oh my God why don't these people learn Sanskrit and why don't they even read their very own scriptures!! i interact with a lot of hindu friends through an online game that i play and all of them that i interacted with havn't read any of their religious scriptures and all of them are above 20 years of age!!! this is near 100% ignorance. and by this pattern, even the people who are commenting here, m sure dont know Sanskrit. they blindly follow other people's interpretations!!Religious guidance should not be taken as criticism! we should all be very thankful to Khurshid Imam for the time he spent on this research. can you do this those who have objections? if you dont agree with him then work hard and come up with better proofs!! anger just kills your wisdom!religion is not anyone's property. islam is not for muslims only the same way as hinduism is not just for hindus. why people become so possessive and offensive about religion as if they themselves created it! you are just following what you are made to follow since childhood. this is a fact accept it and it applies to muslims as well! We research so much while buying clothes or anything of our interest so that we may find the best. then why do we become dumbs when it comes to religion. isn't following the correct religion our basic right? i am a muslim but i have read hindu scripture as well! how would i know m on the right path unless i research. just because your parents followed a religion you ll continue to do that. what if they were wrong!! do they have any certification of being on the right path from God?this is a very important matter of your life. dont be angry or sarcastic. be patient and awakened and be respectful to those who research for you if you want to be guided. I pray for my and everybody's guidance :)

The TruthValmiki Ramayana, the original narration of Ramayana, has a total of 537 chapters, and over 24,000 verses, arranged into six kandas, or books. There are only two references to meat, and over a hundred references to a vegetarian diet. The Ayodhya kanda has 119 chapters. Chapter 20 describes Mother Kaushalya’s grievous lamentation on hearing from her son Rama that He has been banished to the forest. Rama tells her in verse 29, “I shall live in a solitary forest like a sage for fourteen years, avoiding meat and living with roots, fruits and honey.” Can we validly infer from this that Lord Rama ate meat while in Ayodhya, and now He promises to avoid it in the forest? The exact words used are hitva amisam. Amisam refers to “meat” and hitva refers to “disregarding” or “with the exception of” (Monnier Williams dictionary). Traditionally, in Vedic culture, when a son leaves home to go to distant lands, he reassures his parents that he would abide by strict moral codes and never deviate from the religious principles. Imagine a student promising his parents when going to stay in the hostel, “I won’t drink alcohol while in the hostel.” Does this mean that he is drinking it while at home? Obviously not. Similarly it’s in this mood that Lord Rama assures His mother that He wouldn’t stoop low. In Chapter 26, Lord Rama tells Mother Sita of His decision to go to the forest and instructs her to stay in Ayodhya. There is no reference to any eating meat or otherwise in any verse of this chapter. Moreover in almost all the verses of chapter 94, Lord Rama glorifies the various fruits, trees, and flowers at the forest of Citrakuta, with absolutely no reference to any meat-eating whatsoever.Did Mother Sita ask Lord Rama to kill the deer? In the third book, Aranya-kanda, Chapter 43, Mother Sita spots the golden deer and asks Lord Rama to fetch it. She asks, “O nobleman’s son, that delightful deer is stealing My heart. O dextrous one, bring it round; it will be our plaything.” [3-43-10]. In the next eight verses She rejoices at the prospect of taking the deer back to Ayodhya where the animal will delight all the palace residents. She clarifies that if the deer is to be killed at all (Lakshmana had earlier warned it to be a demon), then They could use the deerskin as a seat. (3-43-19, 20). The forest dwelling sages used kusa grass and deerskin as seats during the earlier ages when flora and fauna was in abundance. Here again there is not even a hint that Lord Rama or Sita wanted to eat the flesh of the golden deer. In the chapter 36 of Sundara-kanda, Hanuman assures Mother Sita that Lord Rama would cross over the ocean and defeat Ravana. He reveals that although Lord Rama is in great sorrow of separation from Mother Sita, He hasn’t fallen down to intoxicants or meat eating (verse 41).Mamsa has another meaning, than meat the flesh of a fruit. In the South Indian temple town of Sri Rangam, when priests offer mango to Lord Ranganatha, they chant the prayer, iti amra mamsa khanda samarpayami: “I offer mango-mamsa (mango flesh) for the Lord to eat.” Thus even if there are occasional references to mamsa, we should know they refer to fruit pulp.

A very good article.Thank you for sharing. food was always a debate in religions; in Indian and middle-eastern religions as well. very few hindus, unlike me, try to understand that any religion made up of certain idea or schools (fitna/sampradaya) and different schools become dominant or recessive in certain times. Starting from Vedic times the central ritual was homa, where yajman(arya) use to sacrifice food to God (all sorts of food from fruits, flowers, liquor to meat)as gratitude. the emergence of Buddhism (1st millienium) had deep impact on hinduism and it become tyaga oriented (ascetic) from bhoga oriented (family bound). So animal sacrifices and meat-eating start becoming taboo. the effect also comes in religious scriptures; basically the most glorified divine book "ramayana", the meat-eating Rama-Sita-Lakshmana start being fruit-eating (as it fits change in culture). If someone observantly see, with change in culture in last 100 years, Ramayana has changed a lot. the animations, which are generally accepted as caricature, but positively accepted in ramayana, people have no problem Hanuman is flying like doremon or Sita is playing with kids. Ram has big fan following, but Ravana has bigger fan following; and actually nobody has problem with that. I have seen, the person leading the group of Ramlila more interested to taking the part of Ravana, but Ram (as if, please pardon me, Ram is sidekick character). But nobody has problem in that. Hinduism is such a vibrant religion, And I feel so proud to be a Hindu.

You have done your lot of research work. However the recent cancer researches have proved that meat eating is one of the major cause of Cancer, Obesity, Diabetes as every byproduct of meat is carcinogenic.

You have quoted Holy Quran, it is excellent. Dead meat, blood, flesh of swine and any food on which name other than God has been pronounced - is prohibited. Quran 5:3

Learned scholar Dr.Zakir Naik Tells one must follow the scriptures to understand the religion, He is absolutely right and 100 marks for him.. Kindly note the following verses from Holy Quran and Hadith. If anyone is not a Muslim( Jews, Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, Jains, Sikhs) does he/She has no right to live. The Jihadis are exactly doing things written in Quran. Are the teachings appropriate logically from Humanistic point of view?

And when the sacred months have passed, then kill the polytheists wherever you find them and capture them and besiege them and sit in wait for them at every place of ambush. But if they should repent, establish prayer, and give zakah, let them [go] on their way. Indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful. ( Quran 9.5)

Fight them; Allah will punish them by your hands and will disgrace them and give you victory over them and satisfy the breasts of a believing people. ( Quran 9.14)

The Jews say, "Ezra is the son of Allah "; and the Christians say, "The Messiah is the son of Allah ." That is their statement from their mouths; they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved [before them]. May Allah destroy them; how are they deluded? ( Quran 9.30)

The Verse:--"You (true Muslims) are the best of peoples ever raised up for mankind." means, the best of peoples for the people, as you bring them with chains on their necks till they embrace Islam. Sahih al-Bukhari Book 60 Hadith 80

Muslims often accuse other religions of idolatry. Yet Muslims bow down to a pagan temple called the "Kaaba" (which is what the pagans of Arabia did before the rise of Islam); they take a pilgrimage to the Kaaba (which is what the pagans of Arabia did before the rise of Islam); they walk circles around the Kaaba (which is what the pagans of Arabia did before the rise of Islam); and they kiss the black stone embedded in the corner of the Kaaba (which is what the pagans of Arabia did before the rise of Islam). Should our Muslim friends be accusing anyone of idolatry? Glass houses!

What you have (mis)quoted (Quran 9:5,9:14) are a war cry to boost the morale of the warriors in the battlefield. If you want to know the true meaning of that verse, go to the previous verses and the ones come after. You can't just take words out of context. Do you know the fact that similar, if not the same verses are existing in your own scriptures? I found tons of such verses of the same nature in Hindu scripture. Here are few for your kind perusal.

Naveen Raghuvanshi " Imagine a student promising his parents when going to stay in the hostel, “I won’t drink alcohol while in the hostel.” Does this mean that he is drinking it while at home? Obviously not. Similarly it’s in this mood that Lord Rama assures His mother that He wouldn’t stoop low."....Does it imply that there were people eating meat at that time? and Rama promises not join them?I still cant understand how they got deer skins and tiger skins without killing them?.....

Dear Priyankar, don't demean the position of God and say you are proud to be Hindu...

Dear Khurshid, As regards interpretation of Sanskrit, pls understand that each word in Sanskrit has many meanings and then there is interpretation in context. To properly understand these things require many years (atleast 12 years) of rigorous study under guidance of an expert teacher.

Before commenting in the garb of secularism, a genuine process needs to be followed and then you can enter the spirit and understanding of the texts.

While the word Amish also mean high level of comforts, Mamsa also means fruit pulp.

So lets no hurry to brand a selfless translator as misleader. spend more time in understanding the scripture and the glories of Lord Rama.